Hand foamite fire extinguisher



Nov. 11, 1930. J. A. M CRACKEN HAND FOAMITE FIRE EXTINGUISHER Filed Sept. 28, 1927 %/A NTOFP Patented Nov. 11, I930 sew ewe-Ame O 1 Les ANGEP'ES, L I A HANDEFOAMITE Applicationfiledjeptemher 28, L927. se ai nd. 223,534.

An object @of any inyention is to provide a means for producing a J continuous stream of fire foam which will be or such dimensions andweight that it can beattacl ied tea waterpressure hose and held in the hand of the operator. Y i i A further object of my' invention is vto ro- Vide a device for "the stated purpose W ich will be so simple and cheap that it may feasi- 1 bly b permee et rpl t da mme u ne e outlets vand thus provide emergency protection L against incipient fires prior to the arive i imwzeel at epp tu -t a A furth r obje 9 inrenti i i to Pse- Vide permanent foamite fire protect-ion at points which rcannot readily (be reached with a portable ,apparatus and which cannot be protected by the methods \heretotore ,usegl Without,theinstallatio-n of a large and expen- 2o sive permanent plant.

These advantages and the manner in which they are attained Will be evident from an i11- spection of the accompanying diagrammatic drawings and the following description thereof. In these drawings Figure 1 illustrates a complete preferred embodiment of my invention in side elevation= Figure 2 is an elevation in face of the nozzle 1 shown in Figure 1, with the sub-nozzles .22 and the. flattened ends 3-3 thereof.

Figure 3 is a bottom elevation of the powder canister indicated at 6 in Figure 1, showing the shape of the flattened spout 7.

teierring to the drawings, 1 1s a special hose nozzle adapted to be screwed onto a hose coupling at the threaded end 8, and provided with two sub-nozzles of a less diameter as shown at 2-2. These nozzles are flattened at the end as indicated at 33 to produce a flattened stream of the Water entering the nozzle under pressure at 8. The cross-sectional shape of these streams is something as j indicated by the divergent lines 4Lit in Fig. 1 but in plan they should spread to a narrow fan. The manner of constructing such jets is well known and need not be described, but it should be said that the sub-nozzles or jets 22 should be firmly made fast to the nozzle 1 so that the iiattened ends 3- will remain parallel. a ou nd theintermediate portion of nozzle 1 is iastened ri ged clamp 5, win ch is bent to ,siibstantially a right angle at 9 and cle nnedia time the sat sfi s T11 i c ter should jhe soy placed that the spoutl8 will ,lie substantially oyerthe centeroithe Witmjets a r-7&1 amtpa-mfllel thereto The lieighte t spout above; streams is not material, but is preferably 1 little higher, relatively; than the drawing uld indicate. a ln operatingniy deyicc.it is attached ,to a water hosef an'd water .pltessliifeturned on by mews i th usua con ro v lv newborn- The canister is thenfilledavith a inizgtiireot the foamitematcrials in powdered i clml My imiention isnOt limited to any definite propet ti ns 9f tspchli te iial but Lwi flfiis fst mixtu econsi inge fiipa rts by Wei of co n ercjal aluminum suliate 3 parts by Weight of commercialsodium lqiqanhonate (N noo s and art .c qmner al l cori r ,redllced to the form ort dweig 1;ied as ajdi y pol; These erigls"slio ld .he thoroughly nd coin y nternal zed and reduced to :such n'ess as to completely pass a y en andimust 'be *npietely dry n; fen m xed. TheseInnate-r als should-he intermixed in ad ance and ut up in cans holding a little less than the capacity or the canister, and as they will iiiteract and lose their cffie5 c ency f al f lovv ed access tothe air, such cans should be tightl sealed (as by a strip of p af m n ed Q7 1 1 Ii G l i sec m nne as to comple y exclude air 1 while allowing thecoyers to ihe readily removed.

I The streams ofwaterissuing at high veloci:ty"i'ro nt,l1e subsnozzles 2 2 will pick up the hand of powderwhicli will run down from slot? in the bottom of the canister and, admixing with such powdeiykproduce a stream 9 of fdain of the best quality. It ispossible also to use a single" sub-nozzle, L producing only one water stream, butthe use ofthe double stream is advantageous in that any powder making its way"throughthefirst fl streamxwi'll be picked up and thus made useful by the second, thus avoiding wastage of material which will occur when only a sin-' gle stream is used. 7 V V r In order to illustrate the proportions in d which this device may be constructed, and

without limiting myself to the sizes named, I willqsay that the'canister- 6 may be ofa capacity. of say one quart and the slot 7 1n the bottom thereof about one inch wide. The

V sub-nozzles 2+2 are one-fourth inch pipe size and flattened down to about one-eighth inch, or abrasstip may be usedinstead of flattening the pipe. The two streams should con verge about 6 to 8 from the tips.

A 2 pound charge of powder will run through the canister nozzle in 10 seconds, requiring a water flow of 10 gallons per minute, equivalent to pounds powder per minute v or 1 pounds per gallon water. Each gallon of water will produce 7 to 8 gallons,

foam, which maybe directed accurately for a distance of' say twenty five'feet. I i

' It will be understood that in this smallsize the device'is adapted to be held in one hand while the operator keeps the canister filled with powder from packages previously 7 opened. If alone in the presence of an incipient fire the operator would have to open anumber of packages and place them within easy reach before starting the water stream.

7 If a larger size isused it would require two persons to operate the device, one directing the stream while the other feeds the canister.

' "1 It will benoted that no regulation nor constreams, said hopper having a slot'at its lower end'positioned to deliver a'stream of" foam producing powder into said water streams.

3. A device for extinguishing fires by means of fire foam, comprising-: a nozzle for attachment to a source of water-under pressure and adapted todeliver. said water in a plurality of superposed streamsofhigh velocity, and a hopper swingingly suspended ;over said streams, said hopper having an opening at its lower end positioned to deliver a stream of foam producing powder into said water streams. I

4. A device for extinguishing fires by means of fire foam, comprising: a nozzle for attachment to' a sourceof water under pressure and adapted to deli'ver saidwaterin a plurality of superposed streams of high Velocity, and a hopper swingingly suspended over said streams, said hopper having a slot at its lower end positioned to 'delivera fiattened stream of foam producing powder-1on gitudinally into said water stream.

5."A device for extinguishing fires by" It means of fire'foam, comprising: means for producing aplurality :of unconfined superposed streams of water under high velocity,

and 'means'for introducing into said water streams an unconfined stream'of foam pro ducing powder. j 1

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 14 dayof Sept, 1927.' i

trol isr'equired, and that if the supply of foam is momentarily interrupted by the canister running out, it starts again instantly on refilling. V

"WVhen, 'in'the attached claims, I'refer to a foam producing powder I would be under- I stood asmeaning a mixture in any suitable proportions of previously dried and powdered aluminum sulfate (or its equivalent), sodium bicarbonate (or its equivalent) and licorice (or its equivalent), all being of the kinds and qualities usedcommercially in the production of fire foam. 7 r Y I claim as my invention:

" 1. A device for extinguishing fires by means of fire foam, comprising: a nozzle for attachment to a source of water under pressureand adapted to deliver said water ina 5 locity, and a hopper suspended over said JAMESALMCORACKEN. 

